Yoga and AIDS

[Guest guest]

I know Jack! A great guy.

**

Chronically Ill Patients Turn to Yoga for

Relief

The New York Times - December 15, 2005

Carol E. Lee

http://www.aegis.org/news/nyt/2005/NYT051211.html

JACK WATERS credits yoga with saving his life four years ago. Riding the

subway in Paris, he began experiencing chest pain. He knew that signaled

a heart attack because he'd had two already, side effects of an H.I.V.

medicine that raised his cholesterol. He needed to get to a hospital, but

first he wanted to do a yoga pose.

" I had to get out and sit down and use the bench and do an inversion

so that I would be able to walk somewhere to get help, " he said. He

started to take deep, slow breaths to maximize his oxygen intake and did

a shoulder stand to increase his circulation. Then he found a taxi and

went to a hospital.

Mr. Waters, 51, a filmmaker, learned these techniques in a yoga class for

people with H.I.V. and AIDS. The weekly session at the Iyengar Yoga

Institute in Manhattan teaches exercises that can ease side effects like

headaches or fatigue and aid bodily functions like digestion. " It

pretty much saved my life, " Mr. Waters said.

People with chronic illnesses from AIDS and cancer to osteoporosis and

Crohn's disease are increasingly turning to yoga classes that single out

their specific ailments. Often it is something their doctors recommend

for the stress-relieving benefits of both exercise and meditation. But

many patients find that the sessions, which make them feel more

comfortable, also lessen some of their symptoms and the side effects of

their medications. And because students exercise alongside others with

their same medical problem, the classes also provide emotional support.

" I had always been exercising, but I had never done anything that

focuses on the mind and the body, " said Mencher, a breast

cancer survivor. Five years ago Ms. Mencher, 69, joined a yoga class at

the Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer

Center in Manhattan while recovering from her illness. " That gave me

back a sense of reinhabiting my body. "

Two lumpectomies and radiation therapy had made the left side of her

upper body very stiff, but the shoulder poses and twists she practiced in

yoga increased her flexibility. Ms. Mencher said she never felt

self-conscious if she struggled to do a pose because her class consisted

mostly of other cancer patients and survivors. The yoga also relieved

some of her mental anguish, she said.

Kennedy, a former executive at MTV Networks who has Crohn's

disease, found that yoga classes relieved her gastrointestinal symptoms

to the extent that she was inspired to open her own studio, Ta Yoga House

in Harlem. " I don't get G.I. symptoms, " she said. " I

hardly get stomach aches. "

Yoga classes for people with specific illnesses are typically smaller

than regular yoga classes - sometimes accommodating no more than 8 to 10

people - and they are usually slower-paced. Postures, which are on the

gentler end of the difficulty spectrum, are often done with blankets and

bolsters so participants can experience the physical benefits of poses

while exerting a minimum of muscular strength and energy.

" We're trying to restore the body and give it juice, " said

, the president of Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New

York, who teaches the free H.I.V. and AIDS class at the institute.

" Even if they've been lying in bed for three weeks with

pneumonia, " he said, " they can start with some poses that can

open up their chest. "

Medical professionals have embraced meditative practices like yoga in

managing illnesses. Studies have shown that yoga can, among other things,

reduce fatigue in people with multiple sclerosis and lower anxiety in

patients with cancer, heart disease or hypertension. In a recent

preliminary study at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, people with

chronic insomnia who practiced yoga daily said that they were sleeping

significantly better and for longer periods.

Some skeptics say the benefits are no greater than what patients would

get from praying, taking a warm bath or any other stress-relieving

practice.

" It gives some people peace of mind or makes them feel better, "

said Dr. Baratz, a dentist and a physician in Braintree, Mass.,

who is the president of the National Council Against Health Fraud.

" But there's no medical or plausible mechanism by which it affects

the disease process. "

There is a danger, he said, in giving patients the impression that a

practice like yoga could somehow cure their illness.

Advocates of yoga therapy agree that it does not cure or treat disease.

But they say it helps patients better tolerate their symptoms and lessens

the anxiety that an illness creates. By boosting flexibility, increasing

the heart rate and calming the mind, yoga helps people relax, said Jo

Sgammato, an administrative manager of the Integral Yoga Institute in

Manhattan. " Why not take advantage of these practices and healing

modalities that make a difference in the quality of life while you're go

through chemotherapy and radiation? " Ms. Sgammato said.

The students themselves often say that one of the things they like best

about illness-specific yoga classes is that the instructors understand

their physical limitations. " In a yoga class at a health club they

might be doing 25 different postures, " said Jackie Herbach, a

massage therapist and yoga instructor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering's

Integrative Medicine Service. " In a class here you might be doing 8

or 10. "

Classes also avoid any postures that could be harmful - by overstretching

the joints, for example - and sometimes include uncommon props.

" We begin seated in a chair, " said Mathis, who runs

Unity Yoga in Mountainside, N.J., and who offers a weekly class for

people with osteoporosis, " then do movements, raising arms over the

head, stretching to the side. " The class also does poses while

standing against a wall. " The premise is that you're returning the

spine to its natural alignment, " she said.

Teachers like Ms. Herbach take a delicate approach to students with

physical illnesses. " They could have low blood counts, so you have

to be cautious as an instructor to transition slowly, " she said of

the students with cancer, " and if you're assisting them, you have to

be careful because they're more prone to bruising. "

Some instructors inquire privately about their students' medical history.

For a person with heart disease, the teacher might want to know if the

student has high blood pressure or has recently had heart surgery.

Inevitably a class of students with a common illness creates a community,

especially if it includes a therapy component similar to the support

group meetings held after yoga classes at Beth Israel Hospital's Center

for Cardiac and Pulmonary Health in Manhattan. " The bonds that form

are remarkable, " said Deborah Matza, a registered nurse and yoga

instructor who runs one of the groups.

The possibility of meeting other people like himself was what drew

, 46, who is H.I.V. positive, to the free yoga class for people

with H.I.V. and AIDS at the Integral Yoga Institute. But the poses have

been more beneficial than he expected; he says they have helped relieve

the numbness in his feet, a side effect of the medication.

The class was started 20 years ago, when AIDS patients often did not live

very long. " The feeling of health is there, the optimism and hope

are there, " said Lee Pleva, the instructor. " There's a real

sense of personal connection and caring. "

051215

NYT051211

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